Third Time's A Charm
by FiveFootTwo
Summary: Takes place after the events of Pitch Perfect 3. For all you Jeca fans out there.


**A/N: For you loyal Jeca fans out there, this is for you. I did not see Pitch Perfect 3, but I do know the basic plot. This is my attempt to remedy the lack of Jeca in the movie and give them the happy ending they deserve. I hope you enjoy!**

He doesn't seek out the video on purpose. It's completely innocent. One of the many hazards of whatever algorithm is responsible for those "Recommended" videos on his YouTube app. A picture of her wearing a red and white striped cleavage-revealing top catches his eye, and he can't help but click on it. The sound of her voice belting out Sia's Cheap Thrills fills his ears, and immediately his heart starts pounding. She is perfection, as always, and he feels a twinge in his heart at he remembers what they had together, and lost.

He texts her occasionally to see how she is doing, and she always replies, but the softness of her words has faded as the distance between them grew. He knows she flew all over the world to be with the Bellas, and part of him can't help but be hurt that she didn't do that for him. But the more rational side of his brain knows that Beca was never the type of girl who would withstand distance. She needed him near her, and he failed her.

And so he walks around New York City to and from work each day, a shell of his former self. He wonders how she is doing in Los Angeles with opportunities pouring in after her work with DJ Khaled, and he misses her desperately. And so, before he can even think, he picks up his phone and sends her the text he's been meaning to send since they broke up.

 _I miss you._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The pinging sound from her phone wakes Beca from a dreamless sleep. She has been so exhausted lately with work that she barely has time to sleep rest. She picks her phone up from her nightstand and sees that she has a message from Jesse. Her heart skips a beat as she reads it, and she presses her lips together in a hard line. This wasn't supposed to be this difficult. She didn't think she'd miss him so much after they broke up, since they hadn't actually been in the same place for years now. She'd even put off actually saying the words to him, officially ending their relationship long after it should have ended. And still, it hurts. She types her reply before she lets herself dwell on it too much.

 _I miss you too._

She tosses her phone back on the bed and leans her head in her hands. Her phone pings again and she snatches it up, thinking it's Jesse, but it is a message from Theo instead. She has a feeling that Theo is interested in her. He's good looking and successful, and she's annoyed that she can't even look at him without thinking of Jesse. Shaking her head, she decides to get ready for the day to keep her mind off things. She showers, curls her hair, and dresses in a tight black dress with a deep v-neck, pairing it with a black leather jacket and high heels. She does a quick once over in the mirror before heading out to work.

She's right about Theo, she thinks later as he stares at her chest rather than her face while she bends over the recording equipment in the booth later. She is working with DJ Khaled on a new track and she and Theo's hands keep accidentally touching as they reach to adjust the musicmake adjustments on the sound board. His face flushes in embarrassment each time, and Beca can't help but feel guilty. She mentally admonishes herself, trying to convince herself that she has nothing to feel badly about, and she and Jesse broke up a few months ago. And still, the feeling won't dissipate.

After a long, exhausting day, she returns to her apartment. As she slips her key into the lock, she looks down to find a single red rose with a note tied to it. She picks it up, inhaling its scent as she reads the note.

 _Sometimes I see your face, the stars seem to lose their place._

The note is printed, and there's no signature. She enters the apartment and places the rose in a vase just as Fat Amy walks in, grinning.

"Who's that from?" she questions as Beca shrugs. "Looks like someone has a secret admirer."

"Theo maybe?" Beca replies. "I mean I thought he might be interested."

"And what if he were?" Fat Amy asks her.

"I don't know. I guess he's nice enough," she answers, not smiling.

Theo acts exactly the same way towards her the following day, so she doesn't mention the rose. If he wanted credit for her, he should sign his name. But for the next week, the roses keep arriving each evening on her doorstep. Each with a different note, until she has eleven of them in total.

 _There's nothing that I wouldn't do to make you feel my love._

 _Of all the things my eyes have seen, the best by far is you._

 _I want to hold you in my arms. I want to hold you forever._

 _Nothing's greater than the rush that comes with your embrace._

 _You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be._

 _You're my end and my beginning._

 _I will always love you._

 _I simply love you more than I love life itself._

 _Oh my love, my darling, I've hungered for your touch a long, lonely time._

 _You're the meaning in my life, you're the inspiration._

On the twelfth day, she bends to retrieve the most perfect rose she has ever seen. She carefully opens the note to reveal its message.

 _Don't you forget about me._

She gasps, the neurons in her brain firing in rapid succession as she realizes that her dozen roses could have only been sent by one person.

"Jesse," she says outloud to her empty apartment. "How did you do this from across the country?" She picks up her phone to text him.

 _You're such a weirdo. Thank you._

He doesn't reply. She scrolls through her emails but finds nothing from him. There are several from Theo, though. She closes them without reading a word and flops on her bed, dejected. She hears a shuffling sound from outside the apartment and then someone begins pounding on the door.

"Hey flat butt, let me in!" Fat Amy shouts from the hallway, "My hands are full!"

Beca rolls her eyes and sighs as she heads to the door, flinging it open to reveal Fat Amy standing there with a large bag of takeout food and none other than Jesse Swanson.

"Delivery," Fat Amy says, winking suggestively at Beca before handing her the bag and spinning on her heels to leave.

For a moment, Beca and Jesse just stand there staring at each other. "Hey," she says shyly.

"Hey you," he replies warmly. He steps into the apartment, enveloping her in an embrace. He holds her for a long while before releasing her.

"I've missed you so much," he tells her. "I just had to see you."

"The roses? They were from you?" she asks before adding, "How did you manage that?"

"Fat Amy helped me. And she picked me up from the airport, too," he adds.

"But how are you here, and why?" she questions.

"How?" Airplane," he answers, "And why? Because I'm in love with you, Beca. I know why we broke up, because of the distance, but I never stopped loving you. I don't want to stop. And then I realized, I don't want to."

"But what about your job in New York? Jesse, that's your dream job," she reaches for his hand, squeezing it.

"But what about my dream girl?" he squeezes her hand back. "Bec, I went, and I lived my dream for a while, and then I realized something. My dream means nothing if I don't have you to share it with."

"Jesse," she begins, but he cuts her off.

"I know what you're going to say, that you can't ask me to give it all up for you. And you didn't ask, I made the decision myself. So now the question is, do you want me? Do you want us?"

"Yes," she replies without hesitation as she moves to straddle his lap, shrugging her jacket off her shoulders as she goes.

"Thank God," he grins wickedly at her before lowering his mouth to the bare space between her breasts, accentuated by the low neckline of her dress. "I've been wanting to do this ever since I saw that video of you at the USO."

"So you really just missed my breasts, not me," Beca teases, throwing her head back at the sensation of his tongue tracing the edge of her bra.

"Well, they are spectacular," he murmurs, nipping at her skin.

She pulls his head up so she can look at him, "I love you," she whispers before pressing her lips to his. The kiss heats up quickly, both of them feeling the unmistakable surge of electricity between two lovers after so long apart. He stands and she wraps her legs around his waist as he carries her to her bedroom, their lips never breaking contact. He quickly removes her dress, leaving her only in a bra and panties. As his fingers gently skim over her bare skin, he props himself on his elbow, looking down at her.

"You looked so sexy on that USO tour, you have no idea," he tells her.

"You saw me?" she asks.

He nods, "Apparently YouTube loves to torture me," he answers. "You were smokin' hot, and your voice, God Beca. I hated all those men undressing you with their eyes."

She laughs, "So why don't you undress me with your hands, then," she teases him, and he narrows his eyes at her before climbing on top of her, pinning her hands to the mattress.

"You evil, evil woman," he tells her, his eyes sparkling in amusement. He moves with painstaking slowness, wanting to savor every inch of her. He kisses her lips, her eyelids, and the tip of her nose before moving to her neck, sucking lightly on the spot he knows drives her crazy. Before long she's arching off the mattress, eager to feel him.

"Jesse, please," she begs him and she feels him smirk against her skin. He pauses, sliding up her body until they are face to face, all traces of amusement gone from her face.

"Tell me there's no one else," he whispers lowly into her ear, "Tell me I'm the only one for you."

"There's no one else. You're perfect for me," she replies honestly, and he kisses her lips as he pushes into her slowly. They make love slowly, not wanting to rush things after so long apart, and soon Beca is clinging to him desperately, eager for release.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," he repeats over and over again, so grateful to be with her again. They reach their peaks together and he collapses on the mattress beside her, pulling her flush against his body.

"So what happens now?" Beca asks into the silence of the room.

"I'm going to move here," he answers. "I'll look for work here. There has to be something. And if not, I'll find a way to make things work."

"Do you want to live together?" she wonders. "Fat Amy is never really here anyway, so I don't think she'd mind. But you can probably stay here until you get settled with a job. Your stuff could go into storage."

"You'd really live with me?" he smiles at her and she nods, pecking his lips. "I'll have to go back to New York and pack things up and drive them here. It will probably take a week or so."

"Is this really happening?" she asks, "Or am I dreaming?"

"No, it's real," he smiles, kissing her once more. The kiss quickly becomes heated, and she pushes him onto his back before straddling his hips.

"You know there's this guy Theo that helped me get the job with DJ Khaled," she explains, "And I thought it was him at first sending me the roses."

He ignores his body's immediate response to her movements as he looks up at her, "Um, why on earth would you think it was him? Is there something going on between you two?"

"No, of course not," she clarifies, "It was just this vibe I got from him, that maybe he was interested. I don't know," she shrugs, beginning to grind against him.

He places his hands on her waist, stilling her, "So he's interested, but you're not," he states matter-of-factly, looking away from her.

She takes his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. "I said you were the only one for me, and I meant it. I felt guilty even talking to him. I felt like I was betraying you. Jesse, please," she pleads.

"Who can blame the guy," he finally says. "He saw you in that red and white striped thingy," he smiles up at her, "he and all those other guys," he practically growls.

She pins his hands to the mattress, "Yeah, and I'm yours. And you're mine. Remember that." And with that, she lowers herself onto him again and they both gasp.

"You're amazing," he breathes out, cupping her breasts in his hands as they move together. He lifts his head off the pillow to suckle her, and she comes quickly, shouting his name.

She curls against his chest. "Am I crushing you?" she asks him.

"You're miniature," he jokes, "You couldn't even crush a feather."

She punches him lightly in the arm. "For the record, I could never forget about you. You're one of those annoying people that like a catchy song wormed his way into my heart."

"Aw, you're so sweet," he teases her, poking her lightly in the ribs, making her squirm. "I could never forget you either," he tells her. "You're in here forever," he mimes the shape of a heart beating over his chest like she did in her first onstage Bella's performance.

She laughs, "I love you, nerd."

He grins back at her, "I love you too, weirdo."

And the next day, they begin their forever together.

 **A/N: The notes on the roses are all lines from love songs. See if you can name them all. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
